Chinese study Hawai'i tourism
By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
Twenty-seven Chinese visitors are touring various Waikiki hotels and attractions this week, but their mission isn't entirely for pleasure.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
The hotel and restaurant executives want to learn how they can improve China's hospitality industry, particularly now that the country is a member of the World Trade Organization and will host the 2008 summer Olympic games in Beijing.
Mike Fujii, from the Hyatt hotels' sales staff, leads a tour of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort's rooftop pool area for Chinese visitors who are senior executives with the China Hotel Association.
This week's delegation from the China Hotel Association follows a trip by eight others in August. Separately, nearly 30 members of one of China's largest travel industries will seek training in Hawai'i early next month at the University of Hawai'i School of Travel Industry Management.
While the delegations are small, their visits are part of a major push by local tourism officials to diversify Hawai'i's $11 billion tourism business into areas such as education, the environment and agriculture. The framework was partly established by a memorandum of understanding signed in late 2001 by then-Gov. Ben Cayetano and the Hong Kong-based World Trade Centers Association.
The state hopes that at least one group of Chinese industry officials will come here each month for training in visitor hospitality.
"They need to learn these things and this is a great source of revenues and diversification for us," said Richard Bahar, a business development manager for the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. "They're looking to develop their tourism resources and they'd like to be associated with a strong brand-name such as Hawai'i."
Classroom instruction for the China Hotel Association group is being handled by Hawai'i Pacific University's Travel Industry Management Program. During their five-day visit, these officials from China, including Hong Kong, are learning about marketing strategies, project management and data analysis in class, said Wendy Lam, director of the HPU program.
"These are all restaurant and hotel executives, so they need to know how to make big decisions," she said.
During visits to the Hilton Hawaiian Village and the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort, the executives, most of whom don't speak English, are discovering how Hawai'i's tourism industry establishes visitor atmosphere and hours and rates for services.
"It's been an eye-opening experience for them," Lam said.
"Hawai'i is definitely one of the best locations around the world they can learn from."
Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8093.
